Electricity meters, or simply meters, are devices, that among other things, measure electrical energy consumed by a residence, factory, commercial establishment or other such facility. Electrical utilities rely on meters for many purposes, including billing customers and tracking demand for electrical power. A common form of meter utilizes current transformers to sense the electrical current being supplied to the facility being metered. The current sensed by the current transformers is transmitted to circuit boards included in the meter to facilitate measurement of the amount of electrical energy being consumed by the facility.
A typical electricity meter includes several electrical components, ranging in size from relatively large power busses and transformers to microelectronic devices. Because of the variety of components within meters, labor and cost associated with assembling electricity meters can be a limiting factor in cost of electricity meters.
Some of the costs relate to gasketing, which is required because meters are typically intended to be substantially sealed from the environment. Still other costs relate to mounting and/or connecting display elements that display energy usage information.
There is a need for utility meter features that address at least some the costs associated with the meter assembly and implementation.